134 
Colombian Andes, viz., at from 6,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea ; 
P een in a salubrious mountain climate, a condition of cultivation 
of prime importance in the estimation of the age of India 
and Ceylon, for the planters appreciate the advantage of growing 
a product in the genial climate of the mountains as compared with 
cultivation in the malarious climate of the plains. The conditions 
by Mr. Gustav Mann, an authority on Indian products, thus, “the 
heat is about 98° in the shade in Upper Assam. Under these con- 
Pees, which are of excessive moisture, even partial inundations 
during a portion of the year, caoutchouc trees of all countries 
thrive best.” The Ceara rubber, however, grows in hot arid 
regions. 
Prior to the wholesale destruction of this tree (but few now 
remain) by the rubber collectors, I explored, some five years ago, 
the forests wherein it abounded in order to examine the m 
climatic and other conditions affecting its growth. It ma 
mentioned that its area of distribution has been peculiarly limited 
to a small section of the Cordilleras some 1,500 miles from the sea. 
The total quantity of rubber exported during the few years the 
article existed could not have amounted to many hundred tons. 
It is very difficult t» Saad the tree from cuttings ; hence I 
ve had to resort, dur my supervision of the plantation, to 
propagatio iia dien sa Ry moreover, were always procured 
with mach difficulty 
Efforts are being videli in India to cultivate the Ficus elastica 
on a large scale, which, aecording to Mr. Clements R. Markham 
25 years "—; 
I aha undertake to convey i es a supply of a and 
‘seeds, the germination of the latter to be ensured on the spot, and 
to deliver the same in Sikkim, the Nilgirisor Ceylon. The supply 
of plants thus to number from 10,000 to 50,000, which I would 
deliver for the sum of £1,000. 
1 have, etc., 
(Signed) ROBERT THOMSON. 
The Right Hon. Viscount Cross, 
Secretary a PME ‘for India, 
laces OFFICE to the GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA. 
Cou. Se , London 888. 
th September, 1 
MY LORD, d t 
` I FORWARD herewith a copy of a letter, of 23rd of July last, 
Mr. Robert Thomson, of ‘Bogota, i the Republic of 
Colombia, drawing attention to a new Desis: of Hevea (N. O. 
Eup. yasa valuable source of rubber, and Leememdbie 
its "D cultivation in India. 
